Dialysis is a treatment used to support a patient with insufficient renal function. The two principal dialysis methods are hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. During hemodialysis (HD), the patient's blood is passed through a dialyzer of a dialysis machine while also passing a dialysis solution or dialysate through the dialyzer. A semi-permeable membrane in the dialyzer separates the blood from the dialysate within the dialyzer and allows diffusion and osmosis exchanges to take place between the dialysate and the blood stream. These exchanges across the membrane result in the removal of waste products, including solutes like urea and creatinine, from the blood. These exchanges also regulate the levels of other substances, such as sodium and water, in the blood. In this way, the dialysis machine acts as an artificial kidney for cleansing the blood.
During peritoneal dialysis (PD), the patient's peritoneal cavity is periodically infused with dialysate. The membranous lining of the patient's peritoneum acts as a natural semi-permeable membrane that allows diffusion and osmosis exchanges to take place between the solution and the blood stream. These exchanges across the patient's peritoneum result in the removal of waste products, including solutes like urea and creatinine, from the blood, and regulate the levels of other substances, such as sodium and water, in the blood.
HD treatments are typically performed on a patient multiple times a week using an HD machine in a clinic or home environment with each treatment lasting a least a few hours. PD treatments are done several times a day on a patient, often at home and often performed overnight while a patient is asleep using an automated PD machine called a PD cycler. A PD cycler is designed to control the entire PD process so that it can be performed at home without clinical staff in attendance. Many PD cyclers are designed to automatically infuse, dwell, and drain dialysate to and from the patient's peritoneal cavity. The treatment typically lasts for several hours, often beginning with an initial drain cycle to empty the peritoneal cavity of used or spent dialysate. The sequence then proceeds through the succession of fill, dwell, and drain phases that follow one after the other. Each phase is called a cycle. Dialysis machines are typically equipped with interfaces for receiving inputs and providing information to users during treatments.
Tubing (which may also be referred to herein as a “line”) for conveying fluid specifically for medical purposes, such as in HD and/or PD treatments, may be looped and packaged together, often with tape, in connection with shipping and/or organizing the tubing for installation at a dialysis machine. Particularly in connection with home dialysis treatments, the bundles of various tubing can be confusing and frustrating for a patient or user to handle because the loops of tubing are not individualized and separating the tubing from each other in connection with setup at a dialysis machine can often lead to entanglement of the tubing.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system and method for reducing the possibility of entanglement of medical tubing in connection with packaging, shipping and/or use.